Artificial Mates - Chapter 37

No words could describe the dread that gripped my stomach. Insane, confusing, unreal. I turned to Grant too quickly, making the world spine uncontrollably before my eyes. I wobbled on my feet.

-Will you please calm down? You’re making things worse.

Demos’ voice said in my head heavy with irritation. I struggled to keep hold onto my rational thoughts. Was that even normal? They did mention a link but I never thought it would be voices. It sounded crazy.

-Yes, you’re hearing voices. It’s normal. That’s what the ‘mate link’ does.

I sunk back on the mattress as the world spun making me nauseous. What the hell do I feel dizzy? What something wrong with the brain wave connector? Demos groaned while holding his head.

“You’re not the only one experiencing this. I can’t even get up,” he snapped. I squeezed my eyes shut and took deep breaths to ease the pain. Grant lightly touched my shoulder. I just instantly knew it was him.

“Do you want a glass of water?” I opened one eye to peek at him then closed it again.

“Yes, please,” I’d preferred the sync was a s.e.x thing instead of this atrocious headache. I rolled to my side gripping my head.

-We can still hear you

“Please, go away. Don’t peek into my internal monologue,” Demos softly chuckled next to me. I painfully opened my eyes and found him resting on his pillow. His short hair in disarray and expression soft as our eyes met.

-You’re beautiful

Somewhere in the back of my mind some oldies song my grandma used to listen to by some guy called James Blunt starting playing. I rolled my eyes mentally. Why did I even remember that singer’s name? Go away stupid song! Demos laughed burying his face in his pillow.

-just say, thank you.

He laughed and it was s.e.xy melting the little voice inside my head. His pretty eyes rested on me making my heart skipped a beat and my breath came out short. My cheeks flushed for no damn reason.

-Could you stop narrating your every move? It’s sort of annoying.

I shoved him away with my hand but he didn’t move at all. The guy was a solid block. I glared at him as his slow ravaging smile mocked me.

“There’s no off button!” I threw at him. Don’t tell me I have to live with them permanently in my head? Demos reached his hand caressing my face. I instinctively leaned in the warmth of his palm closing my eyes.

-We can’t undo the link.

A loud crash in the kitchen startled me. I sprung around to peek through the open door leading to the living room. The metallic sound of a pan crushing on the ground resonated in the whole apartment.

“Grant?” I called with alert.

-The dizziness is affecting my motion

“Sorry,” I bite my lower lip. This is terrible and we are only at 5%, what if we put it at 100% percent all the time? Now I understand why Demos said it was dangerous on his first day at work.

-We need to adapt slowly, that why I said it wasn’t ok this morning.

I let myself fall back on the mattress. If I had to work in this condition, I won’t get anything done. I was as worst as my period. I just hope it won’t drag on for days.

-Normally, it gets better after 24 hours. That’s why you need to sleep.

Grant came back with the glass of water. He walked mechanically around the room. The liquid stirred as he handed me the glass.

“Sorry, it took longer than I thought,” he said with a tiny smile. I thanked him and took long sips from it. The cold water helped eased the pulsing in my head as it went down my throat. I sighed in relief.

-So this is how it feels to drink water.

I gave Grant the empty glass with a burst of laughter. I’ve never thought about it, it must be strange to taste water for the first time. I can’t even wrap my head around it.

-to taste is foreign to us

“Wait, until you eat something sweet. That’s a whole other experience,” I laughed then winced as my own voice echoed in my head.

-How is it?

I placed a finger on my chin. I don’t think words can explain taste in a good way. It’s something that must be experienced. Especially, chocolate or cakes. Some compare food with s.e.x. Shit! No, I wasn’t thinking about it. What the hell, Liliane! Food! I’m thinking about food. Right! Food.

-S.e.x? Interesting. You and your internal monologue are so different. It’s like discovering a completely another person. A chatty one.

I glared at Demos who smirked at me in response. I need to put a cap on that bottle of nonsense that kept popping up in my mind. And Demos was not helping. Why did he had to comment on every thought I have.

“You talk a lot too. You’re usually the quiet one,” I snapped. Grant placed the glass cautiously on my desk and came back to join us.

“You’re not used to Demos. He talks a lot, I like when he tells stories,” he commented. I rose my eyebrows at him. He did mention it yet I couldn’t imagine Demos reading a story. It must be nice to hear this voice rock me to sleep.

-Really? Just that?

Among other things. Yeah, I love his voice. It makes me shiver with…Shit! There I go again! I slapped my hand over my mouth and shot him a dark look.

-Why did you stop? It was getting interesting.

“Sorry, I wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular!” I added quickly. But the damage was done. Grant came closer his eyes glimmering like jewels.

“I’ve already locked the front door and checked the windows. You can sleep without worry,” I blinked at him. Where that piece of random information about security came from? His eyes dropped to my lips.

-Can’t we just make out already?

***

[Demos log] first day as a Patrol agent

I left Liliane on the platform. I couldn’t stop stressing about her security. When I got back to level twenty-two my thoughts shifted to our sync tonight. Even as the tall building of the station appeared before me I couldn’t get it off my mind. Inspector Najja greeted me in the entrance with a handshake.

“Demos! So are you excited?” he had asked. Somehow, I was eager to start. I met a few human colleagues who nodded at me. The cyborgs and the other artificials instantly sent me welcome through the office network. There were 46 office workers, 23 cyborgs for rapid intervention, 4 front desks artificial and Temus. Each sent me a warm welcome. I turned back to the inspector as he explained our schedule. Every morning at 8 am there’s briefing. Each human get assigned a section of level 22. Since I was in the special squad, I was sent to train with the B8 boys and Temus. Three Quaxy type cyborgs crafted to be snipers. Temus eyed my every move. I did that same. He might be a problem if we aren’t compatible. The training took place in VR. They wouldn’t dare damage me on the first day.

“Ready newbie to get your ass kicked?” said B8-1. The environment loaded. High-raised Buildings surrounded us. The B8 boys were geared up with XM8 long-ranged rifles. Temus nodded at me, he had a heavy artillery gun and I only have a regular T3 gun. The boys tilted their heads in perfect coordination. They liked the competition.

“The mission, three humans on TP took hostages on floor 23 of this red building, they are armed and will not stop because of the drug. We need info on the number of hostages. B8 boys station yourself on the buildings around the site,” said Temus. I leaned closer and check my munitions. I had 36 bullets. The boys rushed across the street each going to a different building.

“Newbie, come with me,” he waved at me. We went to the front door, telling the personal to evacuate. “Backup is on the way. We need to neutralize the threat and keep the hostages alive,” he tossed over his shoulder. I nodded once. I already knew the procedures. We then went to the elevator.

-Temus, I’m on site. I’ve spotted one of the three TP junkies.

The elevator took a couple of minutes to reached our destination. Temus opened the door, one floor below where the hostiles were. He rushed to the stairs giving access to the next floor. We could hear screams and a loud voice shouting orders. I rose my gun in position, Temus narrowed his eyes at me

“Remember, this is a neutralize and rescue mission. We work as a team,” I just nodded at his comment. I had nothing to prove. I was designed to hunt. My military featured popped up on my field of vision. The thermal read showed 10 bodies beyond the door.

-In position, hostages 8

I frowned at the information from B8-3.

“There are 10 humans inside,” I added. Temus gave me a quick peek over the shoulder.

“B8 boys confirm the number of humans inside. Newbie is saying there’s an artificial also,” he whispered in his radio. There was silence for a moment.

-Confirm, 1 artificial. Female Model Teolys. Maid of a young human boy.

“Can’t we connect to her?” I asked. Temus sprung around, he was twice my size towering over me. He was the leader, and I the newbie.

“You want to use her as a bait to lair them close to the window?”

-I can take a shoot.

-I’ll go with newbie’s plan.

Temus nodded and pressed his hand on the metal door leading to the floor there the hostage took place.

“Request connection to building the grid, request connection into floor 23 office network. Open communication with Model Teolys D67,” he muttered the order. After a second the screams rose from the other side of the door.

-Target in view, taking the shoot!

A loud bang and glass shattering followed it. Hysterical screams rose. A second shot was heard.

-Junkie 1 down. Junkie two down.

We burst through the door. The hostages were running in all directions blocking the view of the third hostile.

-I’ve lost eyes on the 3rd one

“Shit! Out of the way! Move,” Temus shoved the humans away with one hand and held his massive gun with the other. I rushed to the window when a loud bang resonated in the room. The female artificial fell to the ground.

“B8 status! Where is the junkie?” shouted Temus. From the corner of the eye, I spotted a nozzle pointing at me. I dove to the ground pulling a screaming woman in my fall. In a split second, a bullet came piercing from the window and hit the owner of the gun in the back. He fell to his knee a second bullet went straight to his head splashing blood on the hostages around.

-Target down.

“Zero casualties. 3 hostile neutralized. One damage artificial,” smiled Temus. “Mission completed,” he held out a hand and pulled me back on my feet. “Not bad newbie,” he patted me on the shoulder.

“Does neutralizing mean kill humans?” I frowned at Temus.

“We Special Forces has clearance unlike other artificial,” his explanation left me doubtful. I’ll keep a note to check the legal implications. The projection dissolved and a big mission successful appeared before my eyes. There was a scoreboard with each of the participants’ points. I got 10 points for saving a civilian while all the others had over 60 points for killing the hostile. Something was definitely wrong with this training.